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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Official Movie Novelization
'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes '''is the official novelization of the film ''Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Written by author Alex Irvine, the novel is a retelling of the film's plot. The novel was released on July 15, 2014, exactly four days after the film's American release. The Novel's Outline A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth's dominant species. Main Characters Apes *Caesar - A genetically intelligent chimpanzee raised by humans, Caesar is the leader and king of San Francisco's Ape Colony and the father of a teenage son, named Blue Eyes and an infant son, named Cornelius. He is also the husband of Cornelia, the colony's Queen. *Cornelia - Caesar's wife, the Queen of the Ape Colony and the mother of Caesar's teenage son, Blue Eyes and infant son, Cornelius. *Blue Eyes - Caesar and Cornelia's teenage son and heir as well as the older brother of Cornelius. *Rocket - An old friend of Caesar and one of his lieutenants as a well as Caesar's former rival. Rocket is also Ash's father. *Maurice - A kind orangutan who befriended Caesar during his time in captivity and one of his lead lieutenants. *Koba - Caesar's advisor and friend and later enemy. *Ash - Rocket's son, Caesar's honorary nephew and Blue Eyes' best friend. *Grey - a male chimpanzee who is a follower of Koba and assists him with his plans. *Stone - a male chimpanzee who is a follower of Koba and assists him with his plans. *Luca - a male gorilla who is a follower of Caesar. *Sparrow - a female chimpanzee who summons Caesar to see Cornelia before she gives birth. Humans *Malcolm - A leader of the human resistance who teams up with Caesar and becomes his human counterpart. *Dreyfus - Leader of the humans of San Francisco. *Ellie, Malcolm's second wife and the step-mother of Alexander. The human counterpart of Cornelia. *Alexander, Malcolm's 15-year-old son and step-son of Ellie. Is befriended by Maurice. The human counterpart for Blue Eyes. *Werner, an ally of Dreyfus. *McVeigh, an ally of Dreyfus. *Terry, an ally of Dreyfus. *Finney, an ally of Dreyfus. *Carver, a member of Malcolm's group and a former Engineer. He has an attitude problem and a strong hatred for apes. *Kemp, a member of Malcolm's group. *Captain Haynes as The Captain, a ship captain who appears in the epilogue. *Sarah, Ellie's deceased daughter. Mentioned when Ellie recalls a memory of her. *Maddy, Dreyfus' deceased wife. Appears via Dreyfus' photo. *Edward, Dreyfus' deceased son. Appears via Dreyfus' photo. *John, Dreyfus' deceased son. Appears via Dreyfus' photo. *Will Rodman, the adoptive father of Caesar. Appears via camera footage. *Charles Rodman, mentioned only as "Will's father". *Douglas Hunsiker, mentioned only as "Will's neighbor". *Steven Jacobs, mentioned only. Plot Ten years after the Simian Flu outbreak, a middle aged Caesar now leads and governs a new generation of apes in a community located in the Muir Woods. The group includes comrades from the ape sanctuary (notably Rocket and Maurice) as well as Koba, the bonobo formerly experimented on at Gen-Sys. Caesar leads the apes on a hunting party for deer, where his adolescent son, Blue Eyes, is scarred by an attacking grizzly bear. Caesar is summoned by Sparrow to his home in the apes' village, where his sick wife has given birth to a newborn son. The next day, Caesar and Maurice wonder about the fate of the humans. The next morning, Blue Eyes and Ash (son of Rocket) encounter a small party of armed human survivors in the forest led by a man named Malcolm. In a panic, Carver, holding deep distrust for the apes, shoots and wounds Ash. Caesar decides against retaliation and orders the humans to leave. Koba, Grey, and Stone follow the humans to the city. It is revealed a group of humans genetically immune to the virus have established a guarded safe-haven inside a semi-built tower in the heart of post-apocalyptic San Francisco. The next morning, Caesar pre-emptively leads the apes to a face-to-face confrontation with the humans at the tower where he speaks and orders Malcolm, the safe-haven's co-founder, to never enter ape territory again. Malcolm convinces the human camp's leader Dreyfus to give him time to reconcile with the apes to gain access to a hydroelectric dam in their territory, which could provide long-term power to the city. Dreyfus is distrustful of the apes and arms survivors using an abandoned armory in preparation for war. Caesar's lieutenant Koba encourages him to wipe the humans out while they are desperate. Seeing possible peace, Caesar allows Malcolm to work on the dam's generator provided they work unarmed. The next day, trust comes to a standstill as Carver threatens Caesar's newborn with a concealed weapon, but later Ellie helps treat Caesar's sick wife with antibiotics. Koba, along with his loyalists Grey and Stone, discovers the armory and questions Caesar's allegiance. Caesar heavily beats Koba for his insolence but forgives him, causing Koba to secretly plan his usurpation. The next day, Koba steals an assault rifle from the armory after murdering two human guards. That night, power is restored to the city, the humans rejoice and Malcolm's team celebrates with the apes while Koba beats Carver to death and has two apes set the apes' home alight. In hiding, Koba shoots Caesar as the two lock eyes, presumably killing him. The ape colony grows frantic with the loss of the Alpha Male and Koba blames Malcolm's team for Caesar's death and burning the colony, brainwashing Blue Eyes. He orders war with the humans as retribution. Maurice helps Malcolm and his family escape into hiding. Assuming leadership, Koba leads able-bodied apes to war in San Francisco. The pack overwhelms the armory and charge the tower’s gates heavily armed. Despite heavy casualties, Koba helps the apes overrun the tower and imprison all the humans as Dreyfus flees underground. The next day, Ash refuses Koba’s orders to kill an unarmed man, citing Caesar's teachings. Koba kills Ash before Blue Eyes' eyes and jails all Caesar sympathizers, including Rocket (angry at Koba for killing his son), Maurice (who stays silent), and a gorilla named Luca (who had bonded with Malcolm). Malcolm, Ellie, and Alexander find Caesar barely alive and transport him to his former home in San Francisco. Caesar informs Malcolm that it was Koba, not Carver, who shot him as Malcolm’s family discover Caesar’s upbringing. Malcolm finds medical supplies for Ellie to operate and brings Blue Eyes back with him to Caesar. Caesar and Blue Eyes embrace, update, and forgive each other. Caesar laments that he was misguided when thinking apes were better than humans, having now seen what they're capable of and realizing the two are not so different after all. Blue Eyes frees the humans and the apes loyal to Caesar while a resting Caesar becomes nostalgic examining mementos from his childhood, including footage of Will Rodman teaching him how to play chess and how to sign "home". The freed apes join Caesar and confront Koba at the summit of the tower. Dreyfus informs Malcolm that his men have made radio contact with another band of survivors on their way to fight the apes in San Francisco. While Caesar and Koba battle for supremacy, Malcolm unsuccessfully prevents Dreyfus from detonating C-4 explosives underneath the tower. The explosion kills Dreyfus and collapses part of the tower, injuring and killing several apes. As Caesar and others assist the injured, Koba opens fire, wounding Maurice. Caesar gains the upper hand and overpowers Koba, leaving him grasping to a ledge. Koba taunts Caesar by reminding him of the law, "Ape will not kill ape". Caesar wonders whether he should be a good example to Blue Eyes by letting Koba live or let go of him to help Rocket exact revenge. Realizing that Koba has embraced what humans use to become powerful, Caesar remarks, "You are not ape", and lets him fall to his death. Malcolm informs Caesar of the impending arrival of human reinforcements as the two mourn the lost chance for peace now that war has begun. Caesar tells Malcolm to leave with his family for safety. As Caesar and the apes stand on top of the tower, a ship full of humans sails under the Golden Gate Bridge at daybreak. The apes are spotted by the ship's captain, and Caesar waits to see who will make the first move in this game of chess. Initial Publications More to come... Movie More to come... Also See *''Dawn of the Planet of the Apes'' *''Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm'' Notes *When Dreyfus is looking through his photos, a year for the commencement of the Simian Flu is suggested: "And there was what he had come for: Maddie and their boys - Edward and John. Standing on the viewing platform at the top of the viewing platform, they smiled at the camera in that distant year of 2012, when the Simian Flu was just a public health concern and nobody had imagined what the next ten years would hold." This suggests that Dawn takes place in 2022. However, this contradicts the Dawn website's claim that it is 2026, as well as the Before The Dawn shorts by Motherboard, which contain text saying that Simian Flu began in 2011. Since this is a novelization and not the film itself, 2012 may not be the actual year in which Rise is intended to take place. It should be noted that the film itself contains a picture of Edward and John, who appear to be younger than their ages given in the official movie prequel (14 and 12). Furthermore, there is no apparent evidence that the picture was taken on the Coit Tower. *During Caesar's final confrontation with Koba, it is written that it has been five days since Koba killed the bear. It has actually been more than five days. Trivia *It is mentioned a few times that it has been ten years since the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the Simian Flu outbreak. *The events of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm are alluded to in the novel; Dreyfus remembers mercenaries being sent to the Muir Woods, which ended up getting set on fire, causing people to believe that the apes were killed. *In the beginning of the novel, gibbons are mentioned among the types of apes in the village. They do not appear in the film itself, nor have they ever appeared in a Planet of the Apes film. *A female chimp who alerts Caesar about Cornelia being in labor is named Sparrow. *Malcolm remembers that the city burned for over a year after the Simian Flu outbreak. *Dreyfus says, "We spent four years fighting the virus, and another four fighting each other as the city came apart." A similar line was included in the trailer for the film. *In the novelization, Malcolm is the one who expresses the belief that Alexander is safer with him than without him. In the film, Alexander is the one who expresses this belief. *The novelization also includes a male gorilla named Luca, who assists Malcolm's group as they repair the dam. *The epilogue might have been intended to be the stinger for the film, which was cut because Matt Reeves did not want to "box ourselves in." *One notable difference in the novel is that Luca, leader of the Gorillas befriends Malcolm and becomes fond of him. This relationship is not seen or is it referenced in the film. *Another difference in the novel is that Blue Eyes is seen to be envious of his baby brother Cornelius and is not afraid to express it. In the the film, this is not referred to at all. *In terms of baby Milo, Caesar is asked what the baby's name is and he states that his new son has not yet got a name. While this is not stated in the film, the infant is not named. The name was only confirmed by Andy Serkis when he was asked about it during an interview to promote the film. This was later disproven as the baby's name was revealed in the sequel to be Cornelius. *The audiobook is narrated by Christian Rummel. External Links *[http://lazaruslair.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-alex-irvine-2014/ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Alex Irvine (2014)] - Lazarus' Lair review References Category:Novels Category:Books Category:CE Category:Ape Rebellion (CE) Category:Human-Ape War